An Unexpected Easter Egg Hunt
by SilentMuse.x
Summary: Future!Fic. Little Aeryn finds herself a pet. Arthur/Gwen with hints of Merlin/Morgana.


"I found another one!" Aeryn, Arthur and Guinevere's youngest daughter who was seven, shouted out excitedly to her parents as she grasped the blue egg she found lying inside the bushes. She handled it carefully as she dropped it inside her basket. Her parents watched as her blue eyes sparkled with happiness as she ran back to them with her black hair trailing after her. "I'm winning!"

The whole Easter Egg hunt was her idea. She suggested that they paint the eggs with the dye that came from the sap of berries and have them hidden in Camelot. She had specifically asked her favorite Uncle – her only Uncle, really – to hide the eggs. And now, she was having so much fun _winning_.

"No, you're not!" Amhar, their youngest son who was about thirteen, said crossly. He may have inherited his mother's looks but he was Arthur's son, through and through. And that meant he didn't like losing.

"Oh come off it!" Gwydre, their oldest child who was around fifteen, admonished his younger brother. If Amhar was Arthur's son through and through, Gwydre was Guinevere's replicate through and through. "Act your age, Amhar."

"You don't get to tell me what to do!" Amhar complained as he stuck his tongue out at his older brother. He then turned around, with a basket in hand, and ran off to find more eggs.

"Prat," Gwydre muttered under his breath as he watched Aeryn go in the direction of the trees. Even though his parents' didn't say a word, he knew that they wanted him to keep an eye on the young Pendragon. Considering it was his Uncle Merlin that hid the eggs, Gwydre knew he had to keep a close eye on his sister.

"Psst!" Aeryn scrunched her eyebrows at the strange sound. She looked around her surroundings to see the source of the noise. She saw it to be a man hiding behind a tree. "Hello Aeryn."

Aeryn's eyes widened as she realized who it was. "Uncle Merlin!" she squealed out excitedly as she ran to him. Merlin's arms opened wide as the little girl jumped into his arms. "I missed you. How was Ea-Earldo?"

"Ealdor," Merlin corrected her. He had placed the eggs a few days prior to his leave to Ealdor to visit his ailing mother and placed a spell on the eggs to remain invisible until the day of the Easter Egg hunt. "And it was fine, little princess. How's the Easter egg hunt?"

"You hid them well," Aeryn said with a pout. Merlin chuckled at that. Then her eyes widened. "You're not using magic to hide them, are you?"

"Of course not," Merlin said as he feigned a hurt expression. "Why Little Miss Pendragon, I never thought you thought so low of your favorite Uncle."

"You're my only Uncle," Aeryn said with a laugh, and Merlin laughed at the truth of her words. He was surprised when she suddenly fell quiet. "Did you visit Aunt Morgana?"

After his tryst with Morgana and their reunion, the seer had decided it would be best if she stayed with the druids. Gwen was saddened about this news but she respected her former mistress' wishes. After a few tearful hugs and promises of letters, Morgana rode out to join her _people. _It had been years and she had yet to return.

A few days before she left, she had told Merlin that she had forgiven him a long time ago because even though he had lied to her and poisoned her, she could never stay mad at him for too long. She had asked him to give her some time but Merlin _always _visited her four times a month.

"Yes, I did," Merlin said with a smile. And to answer the young girl's unasked question, "And she sends you her love. Expect some gifts and letters soon."

"I miss her," Aeryn said sadly as she placed her basket down and sat on the grass. The youngest Pendragon was only three when Morgana left and all she had of her were a necklace and _very _vague memories of a pale woman with long black hair and sharp green eyes.

"I know you do," Merlin said as he sat in front of her. "But she'll be back soon. Isn't your eighth birthday coming soon?"

"Yes," Aeryn replied with a dejected tone.

"Then your Aunt Morgana might pay you a visit," Merlin whispered quietly to the young girl. "_That _might be her present for you."

Aeryn grinned at that. Her Uncle Merlin always understood her and knew how to make her smile. And she was always fond of the little magic tricks he performed whenever she was sick and promised more to come if she would get better. And now, her Aunt Morgana might return. That brightened up her mood and distracted her from her brother.

While she was preoccupied, Amhar was sneaking up to them and snatched the basket away from his younger sister.

"Amhar!" Aeryn yelled as she gathered her skirts and ran blindly after her brother, tears already springing to her eyes. "You're cheating! You're not allowed to cheat!"

"Catch me if you can, little Aeryn!" Amhar shouted to her with a laugh as he ran deeper into the forest. He could hear the footsteps of his sister fast approaching. _When did she get so fast?_ He was so busy looking behind him that he didn't realize that he ran into a very dangerous situation. It was only until he tripped on a wayward branch and stumble to the ground – luckily for him the eggs were protected with magic – that he looked up and saw what he had ran into.

And with that, he let out a loud scream.

"I found one!" Arthur shouted to nobody as he saw an egg lying inside a tree trunk. The king rolled his eyes at the places that the warlock had hidden the eggs.

"Why thank you, Arthur," his wife said as she snatched the egg before he could take it. She was amused when her husband, in the spirit of Easter _he said_, insisted that they join the egg hunt. If only Guinevere knew that it was all a ploy to show off to his _own _children that he was an excellent egg hunter. But so far, Gwen was winning.

"Guinevere!" Arthur exclaimed as he stared at his wife incredulously. "I found it so I'm supposed to have it."

"Well, you should've thought of that before you shouted off to the whole courtyard that you found an egg," Gwen said with a grin. "Besides, the first one who touches the egg gets to have it."

Arthur opened his mouth to argue when the silence was pierced by an amazingly sharp and loud scream. The king immediately recognized it as that of his son, Amhar. He turned to his wife but the queen had already gathered her skirts and ran in the direction of the scream.

The moment he heard the scream, Gwydre ran faster. He cursed himself for not bringing his sword with him – it had been a present from his Aunt Morgana – but he was grateful that he had a dagger. At least he had some kind of weapon. He was worried that Amhar had done something to Aeryn but as he listened in to the scream, he realized it was male and not female.

That made Gwydre run faster than his legs could take. Amhar wouldn't scream if it he wasn't in a dangerous situation. Amhar may be a trouble-maker but not once did he cry wolf.

"Amhar?" he shouted futilely as his body struggled to keep up with the excess strain it was going through. "Amhar, where are you?" He was so busy being frantic about his brother that he couldn't avoid but collide, rather painfully, with his Uncle Merlin.

"Gwydre!" Merlin exclaimed as he struggled to maintain his balance. He rubbed the spot on his back where the young boy had collided with him. "Thank goodness you're alright."

"Where's Amhar and Aeryn?" Gwydre asked worriedly, looking around for his little sister and little brother. He had expected that Aeryn would be with Merlin.

"Aeryn ran after Amhar," Merlin said as he waved his hand in the opposite direction as he started walking. Gwydre soon came after him. "He grabbed her basket and disappeared in the forest. I couldn't stop them because Aeryn was too fast."

Gwydre nodded. He and his little sister used to race all the time and he grudgingly admitted to himself that Aeryn was a fast runner. He was mildly relieved at the thought. Surely if Aeryn was a fast runner, she would be safe. But what of Amhar? His little brother was not exactly the best runner in Camelot and he knew from experience that his clumsiness got to him whenever he was in trouble. His worry for his otherwise troublesome brother sent Gwydre running in the direction that Merlin pointed out with the older man quickly following him.

The moment that she heard her brother scream, Aeryn started panicking. She didn't have anything to defend herself with so she picked up a stray branch and started to walked towards the direction of the scream. She was cautious and alert, much like what Gwydre told her whenever she came along while he was training. She had to keep her eyes straight forward, all the while being conscious of her surroundings. Her ears were taking in every sound, and every step she made was cautious.

"Amhar?" she called out with a trembling voice. "Come now, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you by calling you a cheater. Let's go back to the castle now. Please, Amhar. I'm worried!"

The moment that he heard his little sister's voice, Amhar became worried instead of relieved that someone was going to help him. He was still on the ground, shaking, as he stared at the _hungry _– well, they looked hungry to him – eyes of the three-headed dog. His uncle Merlin had told him about these creatures in one of their lessons. He couldn't remember their exact name because the only words that he could remember reading were "_this creature is blood-thirsty and would not stop at anything until it tears its prey piece by piece._"

"Aeryn!" he shouted back with much difficulty as the black dog approached him slowly. "Don't come any nearer! RUN, AERYN! RUN!"

But the sound of his brother's frantic voice only made Aeryn's steps bigger and made her walk faster. When she appeared in the clearing where her brother had stumbled in, her eyes widened at the creature in front of them.

"Ce-ce-cerberus!" Aeryn shouted with wide eyes.

Amhar tried to beg her to leave but he was already too late. The creature had already pounced – in little Aeryn's direction. "AERYN!"

Gwydre and Merlin had run into Arthur and Gwen at some point in their search. Gwen instantly ran to her eldest child and hugged him as tightly as she could.

"Thank goodness you're all right," Gwen said with a sigh of relief as she released Gwydre and turned to look at him. "Amhar, where's Amhar? And Aeryn?"

"She ran after him after he stole her basket," Gwydre said worriedly. "And now I can't find them. I'm sorry, Mother, Father."

"It's not your fault," Gwen told her son firmly.

"We have to find them," Arthur said as he unsheathed his sword. He then turned to Merlin and Gwydre. "Which direction did she run to?" Gwydre instantly pointed north. He started towards the direction when he heard someone shout his daughter's name.

"That's Amhar," Gwydre said, recognizing his brother's voice. He instantly rushed to his father's side. "And he shouted Aeryn's voice – which means she found him! We have to hurry, Father."

So they ran as fast as they could. Merlin was already going through defensive spells in his head – for both magical and mortal beings. Gwydre had withdrawn his dagger and held on to it firmly. Gwen took a throwing knife from her belt that Morgana had given her years before. Arthur was vigilant for any sign of danger.

A few moments after, they had finally reached the clearing and the sight that greeted them was definitely not one they were expecting. Gwen had dropped her knife in surprise, Merlin had forgotten all the spells that he was going through, Arthur didn't know what to make of it while Gwydre bit his lower lip to stop himself from laughing.

Because in front of them was the sight of little Aeryn playing with a real live – albeit a little small, Merlin noted – Cerberus. It had black fur and of course, three heads. The three-headed dog suddenly stopped playing and the middle head had licked Aeryn's face with much vigor.

"Aeryn?" Merlin was the first one to break the silence.

At the sound, the dog suddenly stopped being playful and raised its three heads before running to _'hide_' behind the little girl they were playing with.

"Mother, Father, isn't it wonderful? I found a new friend!" Aeryn said cheerfully as she turned and patted the nose of the one on the left. "Can I keep him?"

"Absolutely not!" Arthur had blustered out as he sheathed his sword. "Come away from that creature, Aeryn."

"B-but I won!" Aeryn reasoned out as her eyes filled with tears. "I collected twenty-seven eggs!" She said as she gestured towards the eggs that were scattered on the ground. "A-and you said that the winner could get anything he or she wanted!"

Arthur grumbled as he rubbed his temples. How he was stupid enough to say that without thinking of the possible consequences, he didn't know. He was distracted from his thinking when Gwen put a gentle hand on his arm.

"Arthur, let her keep it," Gwen said quietly. "One day, she will get tired of it and we could release it into a wild. It seems rather tame."

"But what if it goes wild?" Arthur asked worriedly. "And where will we keep it?"

"I could use a charmed collar on it," Merlin suggested helpfully. "I could use a charm that would keep it tame. And there's place in the back of the castle…"

"Oh fine, fine," Arthur said, throwing his hands in the air. He then turned to his youngest child. "You get to keep it on the exception that you will take care of. You will groom it and feed it . Do you understand, Aeryn?"

"Yes, father," Aeryn said with a grin as she hugged the enormous creature.

Amhar, who had kept quiet throughout the whole ordeal, had now shakily stood up and dusted his clothes. Gwydre instantly walked over to him. "Amhar, are you alright?"

In response, the younger boy smiled shakily at his brother before fainting and dropping on the ground with a thud.


End file.
